


I Love You, Buddy

by Bookmark



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Season/Series 09, Established Relationship, M/M, POV Outsider, Post-Season/Series 08
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-10-04 21:55:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10291010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bookmark/pseuds/Bookmark
Summary: Based on my tumblr post: Imagine one day Sam calls Cas buddy and Cas is super scandalized and he’s like “Sam, you are my closest friend and I care for you a great deal, but I am already DEAN’s buddy” and in that split second Sam understands everything.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The post this is based off of is years old but I saw a bunch of people reblogging it again so I thought, why not?

Sam considers himself a good little brother. Well, Sam considers himself a good little brother _recently_ , he hasn’t gotten high on demon blood or tried to kill Dean in at least a few years. Ok, so maybe that’s not really something that gets erased over time. Sam considers himself Dean’s little brother. Except there’s nothing little about him. Alright, final answer, Sam considers himself Dean’s brother. That is accurate.

So, in the way of brotherhood, Sam tolerates things from Dean that he wouldn’t from anybody else, like the obsessive cleaning and jabs at his hair. He supports Dean’s endeavors in most non-life-threatening situations, and even makes friends with Dean’s friends. Take for example Castiel. Now at first glance, the angel and Sam don’t really have any external reason to be friends due to their history of threatening to kill one another or calling one another “abomination” or what-have-you, but because Dean has always accepted Cas back into his life, Sam has kept himself open to bonding more fully with Cas. And, since the dude became human it has actually been paying off. Cas is a treasure trove of knowledge, and he loves to share. He can teach Sam about the dawn of time, particle physics, astral projection, or yoga. Cas never complains about doing the research for cases with Sam, in fact, he usually shortens the process considerably. He even works out with Sam, claiming that now that he’s human he enjoys a run as a way to reconnect with the ‘majesty of nature.’ Sam likes to think that if Cas didn’t obviously favor Dean, they would be best friends.

And that’s where the true elephant in the room lies. Sam, as Dean’s brother, is honor bound to tease him about almost everything, but not even he is soulless enough (anymore) to tease his brother about Cas. It’s one thing to hint that he’s aware of Dean’s less than outstanding record in heterosexuality, but it’s quite another to tease him about the love of his life that he’s watched die multiple times. Sam’s an abomination, not a complete monster.

Ever since Cas more or less moved into the bunker, though, it’s become almost unbearable to witness their interspecies courtship. At typical day in the bunker is as follows:

Sam moseys in and finds Dean and Cas already in the kitchen. Dean is frying up something he thinks Cas will like, a new recipe he found online. Cas is nearly dead to the world, but nonetheless present at the table, face nearly falling into his oversized coffee mug. 

The two will banter a bit, usually along the lines of Dean saying, “come on, sleeping beauty, rise and shine. Try the bacon.”

Then Cas will deadpan with a “Charlie and I watched the Disney movie Sleeping Beauty, I didn’t like it. It relies on one of the weakest princesses of the franchise. Aurora exercises almost no agency in her own narrative.”

Then Dean will give a patented In Love™ smile, and say something back. The two will get lost in the conversation until Sam interjects with a “did you save me any bacon?”

After being shot down with regards to bacon, Sam will progress to the library, which he is trying his hardest to catalog. This is around the time Kevin wakes up, crawling in from the lagoon of his filthy room to the library. He usually helps Sam catalog or continues the search for his mother. Dean and Cas will either look for a case, choose something to bicker about or watch a movie together. If Charlie is present, statistical odds of choice number three go up to 100%. 

This cycle will wash, rinse, and repeat until one of them finds a case and the pattern is interrupted. 

With Cas more present than ever, it seems Dean falls deeper in love each day, and his behavior becomes more and more like a happily married man than a womanizing bachelor. The two act like they’re already together, but then Dean will throw in a “buddy” or saddle Cas with a “pal” and the spell is broken. Unfortunately, Cas responds to these names with just as much readiness as he does to the playful “darling” or “honey” Dean will occasionally pepper in. 

Kevin says Dean is just testing the waters and will eventually fall into Cas’ arms. Sam says that Dean is emotionally stunted enough that they may all be dead by the time Dean gets around to saying how he feels. Charlie is suspiciously silent about the whole ordeal. 

Last Tuesday, the pattern broke. 

The morning already saw the hint of deviation. Cas was alone in the kitchen. This was completely unnatural because it implied that Dean had not dragged Cas out of bed that morning. How the night owl had done it himself, Sam could not say. But, nevertheless, Cas was in the kitchen preparing two stacks of pancakes. He was wearing Dean’s apron, whistling while he flipped.

“I didn’t know you could cook,” Sam said like a question.

“Dean showed me. He didn’t wake me this morning, so I figured he might need the energy.”

“That’s really thoughtful, Cas. I’m sure he’ll love them.”

At this Cas did his equivalent to turning bright red; he exhaled slightly and looked down with a grin. “I hope so.” And with that, he exited the kitchen with two pancake stacks on a breakfast tray.

For the next couple of hours, Sam occupied his time researching a potential vampire case in Portland. At noon, he wondered if the fall morning would have faded from a brisk wind to a clear, cool pattern conducive to running. He wandered around, looking for Cas to invite him to come with. He found Kevin bogarted away in the gun range, practicing his kill shot. _Well_ , Sam rationalized, _at least he’s working out the aggression_. He wandered back to the kitchen from the basement, where he found Cas. He was drinking a cup of water, leaning up against the counter in a way that would have been cool, if he wasn’t still in his elephant pajama bottoms. 

“Hey man, did you wanna go for a run?” 

“Yes, I’d like that. Now?”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Before the weather turns.”

“Ok. I’ll just get dressed, wait here.” Cas walked out, leaving Sam alone to stretch. When he came back he was in loose enough clothes to run in, but appropriate for a workout. He had on Sam’s beat up old runner sneakers, Dean’s faded T-shirt, and his own running shorts. “So, where to?”

And with that, they were off. The run was fairly normal, with Cas stopping to snap a photo of a deer family on the smartphone Charlie gave him. The two returned a few hours later to Kevin and Dean enjoying hamburgers. Kevin let out a belch to signify he was satisfied and returned to whatever dark cavern he came from. 

Sam sat, letting his feet ache with relief. He grabbed a burger, and sloppily slammed in on a plate. Cas took a seat on the other side of the table, beside Dean. He started stacking his burger with the toppings placed in the center of the table: lettuce, tomato, onion, the works. Sam saw the ketchup right next to Cas’ elbow and gestured at the bottle on the other side of the table. “Hey, buddy, could you grab me the ketchup?”

Cas looked like he had been shot. He gaped at Sam, blue eyes wide. “Sam,” he said like an indignant old lady, “you are my closest friend and I care for you a great deal, but I am already _Dean’s_ buddy.” And in that moment, Sam swears he understood it all.

Sam tries to be a sensitive brother, but nobody would be strong enough to avoid looking over in mirth at Dean’s reaction. His face was stuck in the dumbstruck expression it had landed on, looking like a serious case of “toddler caught with a hand in the cookie jar.”

“Oh,” Sam said with barely contained mirth, “are you Cas? And what does that entail?”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Dean interjected, “it means what it means, man, lay off.” Dean’s face returned to movement, but he looked down instead of in Sam’s eyes. 

It was Sam’s turn to second guess things. If Dean didn’t want to say it he didn’t have to say it. And if he ever did, he’d know Sam was in his corner. “Yeah, alright. It’s all good. Just pass me the ketchup, man.” 

Dean didn’t say anything, but his eyes lifted up and faced Sam again. Then, lunch returned back to normal. The rest of the day Dean and Cas squabbled over which vapid reality TV show to watch, Kevin joined them to demand The Bachelor, Sam gave up on cataloging and joined them for a marathon. The only difference was that night, as the four men staggered off to their respective beds, Sam saw Cas turn into Dean’s room. 

Yeah, nevermind about earlier. Sam’s a good little brother.


End file.
